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Joel Richards

66 sermons

October 2009

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on Gen 4:1–16
by Joel Richards
about sin, Murder, Consequences, Offering, Anger

Sermon

A Tale of Two Seeds

Gen 4:1–16

•       And soon after creating, God said,"DON'T!” \\ "Don't what?" Adam replied. \\ "Don't eat the forbidden fruit." God said.. 
•        \\ "Forbidden fruit?" \\ "We have forbidden fruit?" \\ "Hey Eve....we have forbidden fruit!”/ \\  \\ "No Way!"/ \\ "Yes way!" \\  \\ "Do NOT eat the fruit!"  said God. 
•        \\ 'Why /? /‘  \\ "Because I am your Father and I said so!"  \\  \\ God replied,  wondering why He hadn't stopped  \\ creation after making the elephants 
•       A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break  \\ and He was ticked! \\ "Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit?" God asked.  \\  \\ "Uh huh," Adam replied.  \\  \\ "Then why did you?" said the Father.  \\  \\ "I don't know," said Eve.  \\ "She started it!" Adam said. 
•       "Did not" \\ "Did too" \\ "DID NOT" \\  \\ Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve  should have children of their own. 
•       If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be  \\ a piece of cake for you? 
•       IF YOUR CHILDREN GIVE YOU A LOT OF TENSION  \\ AND A HEADACHE, DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE 
•       Take two Aspirin  \\ and 
•       Keep away from children
•        
We have been working our way through the first few chapters of Genesis and last week we discovered how God dealt with the issue of sin entering the human race.
      God’s judgment was upon three individuals:
The serpent – eve and Adam
We come this morning to chapter four which is the account of Cain and Abel.  Since Genesis is about beginnings, it shouldn’t surprise that we find several more in this chapter.  The main one might be the first family.
In other words, Adam and Eve bear children – and in this case it is two sons.
Have your children ever frustrated you?
Have you ever wondered if you were going to make it as a parent?
Before we look at our text, let me give you a humorous way to consider parenting.
*In a sense, God had two children . . . and soon after creating them he said, “Don’t.”*
*And here is how the story unfolds*
 
A Hopeful Beginning Goes South! 
There are two approaches we could take this morning:
      We deal with Abel
      We deal with Cain
      
*11* For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  \\ *12* We should not be like *Cain*, who was of the *evil one *and *murdered* his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were *evil* and his brother’s *righteous*.  \\ *13* Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.  \\ *14* We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.  
Whoever does not love abides in death. *15* Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him
 
The unfolding of sin in the human race
*/Those who worship must have as their goal always to please God so that they will not allow sin to work its ruinous ways in their lives/*
 
 
 \\ *The Birth of Two Sons *
God is not done with the human race
This is the result of a “relationship” between Adam and Eve
Their Offering 
Ø  One from the ground
Ø  One from the flock
 
 \\ Ø  What is the problem? 
 \\ Why didn’t God have regard for Cain’s offering?
Note it is regard for Abel – and his offering
And Cain – and his offering
 
I don’t think it is farfetched to conclude it is because it wasn’t a sacrifice
Or, that Cain didn’t bring his best.
 
*The main point:  Is not what Cain brought or why God didn’t have regard for his offering but how Cain responded to God’s rejection*
* *
*He is ticked!*
* *
* *
*The Anger of One Son *
 
Ø  He is warned by God
Ø  He rejects God’s warning (comparable to rejecting God’s word) 
 
And so God is saying essentially to Cain, "Take a look at your motives.  Why are you angry?  Why has your face slumped?  Why is this brooding rage taking over?  Take a look at what's going on in you.  Why are you so angry at Me and angry at your brother?"  
And then He says to him in very gracious words, "This doesn't have to be the end of the story; this doesn't have to be the way it is."  Look at verse 7.  "'If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?'"  It doesn't have to be this way.  "If you do well."  What does He mean?  If you do what's right.  Here is God - this will tell you that God is by nature a savior.  Here is God saying, "You can repent; you can do what Isaiah said, 'Cleanse your hearts, you sinners.'  You can go back after you've repented and ask for cleansing, and offer God the sacrifice that is acceptable from a right heart.  And if you do that, your face is gonna be lifted up.  You don't have to be in this condition.  You don't have to be brooding; you don't have to have lust conceiving greater, deadly sin in your heart.  You don't have to be motivated by this anger.  Just do what's right.  Do what's right in your heart before Me.  Repent; acknowledge your self-righteousness, acknowledge your hypocrisy, acknowledge the failure to recognize your desperate sinfulness and need of a sacrifice - and then go do what's right.  And your despair will go away and your anger will go away, because I'll forgive you."  That's what He's saying.  "Just do what's right.  And what is right is to do what I told you."
 
 
Note:  if you don’t handle this properly, sin is waiting there to pounce on you – but you must master it.
 
 
*The Sin of That Son *
* *
*The way of Cain is unbelief that may manifest itself in envy of God’s dealings with the righteous.*
* *
 
      No one is going to tell me what to do!
 
Am I my brother’s keeper?
 
Do you ever wonder why people refuse to accept Jesus?
Cain and Abel had the world’s greatest evangelists.  They were the only two people who have ever lived that knew what it meant to live in a state of innocence and fall out of it by sin.
 
Do you think they told their sons about it?
 
 
 
*The Punishment of that Son *
Ø  He is cursed from the ground
 
Ø  He lives in rejection of God’s grace
 
Ø  He is removed from the presence of the Lord 
 
 
 
Motifs
First, sacrifices were to be offered to God from a heart of faith.
Second, Israelites did have responsibility for one another
Third, homicidal blood would pollute the land and require purification
Fourth, punishment for the guilt was as the foundation of society
Fifth, God made provision against blood revenge
Sixth, life without God or his blessing was a dangerous life without protection
While there is nothing wrong with either occupation there is a hint of the place of each man in the nature of things, for Cain lines up with an occupation that resulted from the fall and Abel with men’s and women’s original purpose having dominion over the animals
 
*17* And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, *18* “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, *19* if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. *20* You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. *21* And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. *22* Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar. *23* You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. *24* Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, *25* neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.” 
 Boy, He says, "You got a choice.  You can do what's right, which means acknowledge your sin, acknowledge your self-righteousness, acknowledge your wretched hypocrisy, acknowledge that you have not been willing to see yourself as a sinner - and then obey what I told you and bring a proper sacrifice to Me.  And you do that, and your face will be lifted up in joy.  But if you don't do that, sin is crouching at the door like a predatory lion; and it's gonna rip and shred you, and you're gonna have to spend the rest of your life trying to control it."

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